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Culture

A Poem Based on Joshua Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 21, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
. Chelsea a true story from I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris “Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women.” ---Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 42:12 That long-skirt, apple-pie brunette from...

‘AI’s Promise’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper

The Society
May 20, 2024
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. AI's Promise What is the latest ingenious ability makers have made out as mental agility? Smoothly unveiling the newest utility, __though it effusively services whims, it reveals our fragility __more than...

‘He Lied About His Age’: A Poem by Joyce E. Rogers

The Society
May 18, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. He Lied About His Age 'Twas May of nineteen seventeen, our country now at war. Will had decided to enlist, this great world to explore. His lifetime numbered sixteen years, he'd lie about his age, His build...

‘Saturn’: A Poem by Alan Orsborn

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
14 Comments
. Saturn "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil" —Shakespeare "According to medieval thought, the worst planet was Saturn,  sponsor of death, destruction, darkness, and disaster." —Michael Ward When...

A Poem for the 30th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. Rwanda, April 1994 Inside Nyamata Church the pews are piledwith clothes, the blood that drenched them dull and dry.What demon turned sane men and women wildwith bloodlust that ten thousand here would die? A...

‘Herman the Cripple’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
May 16, 2024
Culture, Music, Poetry
44 Comments
. Herman the Cripple A body helpless in deformity Was mine, though loving parents carried me Full seven years in sick infirmity, Then placed me in the monks’ academy. Their island abbey Reichenau became My...

‘The Dead’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
May 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The Dead They’re pretty but the dopamine Has hollowed out their pale blue eyes. They sit there, staring, silent, numb, (They only need to move their thumb…) Intent upon the tiny screen. There’s no...

‘And Yet We Wash Our Hands’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. And Yet We Wash Our Hands When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, butthat instead an uproar was starting, he took waterand washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I aminnocent of this man’s...

‘Look Homeward, Sweet Afton’: Poem by Brian Yapko, Set to Music by Jeff Eardley

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry, Song Lyrics
32 Comments
. Music by Jeff Eardley . Look Homeward, Sweet Afton after Robert Burns Look homeward, Sweet Afton, back to thy green braes, Recalling with pride Britain’s glorious days. Then forward flow strongly, I pray...

A Poem on D.C.’s S.W.A.M.P., by Warren Bonham

The Society
May 11, 2024
Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. S.W.A.M.P. Soulless, Warped, And Monstrous People look at us as smelly “sheeple.” Easily manipulated. Otherwise, we’re mocked and hated. Those revolting, loathsome creatures, all have normal-looking...

‘Hookerville School’: A Poem on the One-Room Schoolhouse by Phil S. Rogers

The Society
May 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. Hookerville School Built just before the Civil War, employed till twenty-nine, This one-room school that stands today withstood the test of time. Turn back the clocks to times long passed, so many years...

‘Orpheus’: A Poem by James Sale

The Society
May 10, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. Orpheus We want the heroes back so we can learn: Herakles smashed his way to hell and stormed By violence the ferryman and three-faced dog; Even yanked Theseus from his deep-rooted seat Without a...

’10/7/2023′: A Poem on the Attack on Israel, by Michael Vanyukov

The Society
May 10, 2024
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. 10/7/2023 More than one has risen up against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation they rise against us to annihilate us. —The Passover Haggadah The world is killing Jews, again. There are too...

A Poem on Scotland’s New Hate Crime Law, by Cheryl Corey

The Society
May 8, 2024
Culture, Poetry
47 Comments
. On Scotland Police were inundated with over 7,000 calls in the first week following the passage of Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Act last month. Where tartan, tweed, and Highland Games began: The...

‘Truth Is Not Beauty’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 5, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
31 Comments
. Truth Is Not Beauty “What is the worst mistake you ever made in bed?” Reply: “My son.”  (Actual dialogue on social media) I learn the truth; I’m more and more aggrieved. There’s nothing left, no...

‘Bridgerton’s DEI vs. Historicity’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

The Society
May 3, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Reviews
20 Comments
. Bridgerton’s DEI vs. Historicity They sacrifice true historicity, So DEI trumps authenticity. But Bridgerton and Netflix, they don’t care, Because those ethopaths with neon hair Give fat cats in their...

‘Reservoir’: A Poem by Stephen M. Dickey

The Society
May 2, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
18 Comments
. Reservoir Those who can still see through accreting years Are getting scarce, those who can lift such veil To remember when the Corps of Engineers Dammed a minor river to end its tale Of flood and misery...

‘Carmen’: A Poem by Théophile Gautier, Translated by Bruce Phenix

The Society
May 2, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Translation
13 Comments
. Carmen by Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) translated by Bruce Phenix Carmen is thin—a dark-brown line Of bistre rings her gipsy eye. Her black hair bodes a dark design, The Devil gave her skin its...

‘Easter Evening Appearance’ and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
May 1, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
8 Comments
. Easter Evening Appearance Luke 24 Sealed up within my upper room, Absorbed by morbid discontent And fear, I questioned everything I’ve done and wondered what it meant. Though slim perspective chided me And...

May Songs from Miracle Plays, Translated by Margaret Coats

The Society
May 1, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Song Lyrics, Translation
19 Comments
. May Songs . I. Where does loyalty take its rest? Where is charity’s portraiture, Except in you, sweet virgin pure? Where has virginity possessed The honor due its high allure? Where does loyalty take its...

‘Throughout American Academies’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
April 29, 2024
Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. Throughout American Academies One hears throughout American academies a strainthat is at once belligerent, intolerant, and strange.It drips with antisemitism all across the land.What new “Mein Kampf” is...

A Poem on Being Openly Jewish in London: ‘Lie Low, Jew!’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
April 29, 2024
Culture, Poetry
41 Comments
. Lie Low, Jew! Echoes and Irony The Hamas flags are raised on London streets By swarms that seethe with scorn and blaze with hate. This nasty nod to History’s evil greets  A Londoner reminded of the...

‘How Many Wrongs Make a Right?’ and Other Poetry by Warren Bonham

The Society
April 28, 2024
Culture, Poetry
19 Comments
. How Many Wrongs Make a Right? The left rights wrongs by doing wrong, but wrongs so fixed don’t stay fixed long. When things re-break, they wrong once more, and hope thereby they can restore things back to...

A Poem on Anti-Israel Encampments at U.S. Universities, by Cheryl Corey

The Society
April 28, 2024
Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
. On Student Protestations They protest on behalf of Gaza from afar— Why won’t they do the same regarding Myanmar? To speak of Falun Gong and China’s Muslim Uyghur Will get you vacant stares—the...

‘Jerzy and Cyla’ and Other Holocaust Poetry by Peter Austin

The Society
April 27, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Jerzy and Cyla Jerzy, a Polish teen in World War Two, Arrested for suspected membership Of the resistance, faced a one-way trip To Auschwitz. There, where womenfolk were few, Labouring in a storehouse used...

‘The Knight of Monticello’: A Poem on Thomas Jefferson by Mary Jane Myers

The Society
April 25, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Knight of Monticello Everywhere and always, Jefferson read. His library stocked a sage’s daily bread. Four volumes, leather-bound, well-thumbed, perused: Don Quixote, his most peculiar muse. He...

‘Theópneustos’: A Poem by Peter Venable

The Society
April 25, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. . Theópneustos Greek, “God breathed” . The Word of God is absolute— __Or else, some claim, it’s obsolete. Many hold it in disrepute, __Dismiss it as myth and deceit. . I say it’s for the...

A Poem on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
April 24, 2024
Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry
16 Comments
. When the Dragon Spreads Its Wings Millennia, the Dragon stayed at home, Consumed its own, kept dissidence at bay, Until it felt a gnawing urge to roam, To make its global domination play. With Belt and...

‘Exodus’: A Poem for Passover by Michael Vanyukov

The Society
April 22, 2024
Culture, Poetry
28 Comments
. Exodus "The entire community of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron in the desert. The children of Israel said to them, If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land...

Are Epic Heroes Toxic?—Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown

The Society
April 21, 2024
Classical Poets Live, Culture, Essays, Poetry, Reviews
11 Comments
. https://youtu.be/ICEvMGx4WnY . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will chronicle the major events of the American...

‘Rolling the Roads—The Days Before Snow Plows’: A Poem by Phil S. Rogers

The Society
April 20, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. Rolling the Roads The Days Before Snow Plows . A major storm throughout the night __Of heavy, wet, spring snow. Nor'easter off the coast of Maine __Hence wicked winds did blow. When finally the storm was...

Carpe Diem: A Poem by James A. Tweedie

The Society
April 19, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. Carpe Diem Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. (“Seize the day, trust as little as possible in tomorrow.”) Horace, Odes I:11 We live our lives, we make our plans, and then Both time and...

‘The Sound of Dirt’: A Poem by Gigi Ryan

The Society
April 18, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
26 Comments
. The Sound of Dirt   in memory of my granddaughter, Valerie (March 30, 2020 - April 20, 2020) Above uneven chairs a canopy Protects the mourners from the blazing heat. It does not shield from view the pile...

‘Snowy Egret’ and ‘Dusky Seaside Sparrow’: Two Bird Poems by Margaret Coats

The Society
April 17, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
37 Comments
. Snowy Egret Here where sunlight sparkle rinses Cypresses whose balding branches Shoulder epiphytic orchids (Cowhorn, spider, ghost, or scented), Tangled mangrove swamp condenses Fortress walls against surf...

A Poem on the Persecution of Donald J. Trump, by Brian Yapko

The Society
April 16, 2024
Culture, Poetry
43 Comments
. . On the Altar of Our Nation I must confess it took a long, long time For Donald Trump to grow on me. He’s gruff, Undiplomatic, calls opponents slime And scum. Of course the man is right, but...

‘Gallows Lane’ and Other Poetry by Cheryl Corey

The Society
April 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. Gallows Lane A lesser charge once meant the pillory, With head and wrists securely set in blocks; For just the legs and feet, a pair of stocks; Or stripped and strapped against the whipping tree, Then...

‘A Clock Describes People’: A Poem by David Whippman

The Society
April 13, 2024
Culture, Poetry
28 Comments
. A Clock Describes People Their faces do not show the time of day But something called emotion: what that is, I've no idea; but I can tell you this: they worry as the hours slip away. “Time's a great...

‘Counsel from a Self-Help Guru’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
April 12, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Satire
21 Comments
. Counsel from a Self-Help Guru I haven’t come here purposed with defendingYour excesses or manifold omissions,Or promise all of you a happy ending:I’m here to explicate a few conditions That bear on...

‘Lone Musketeer’: A Poem by James Sale

The Society
April 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. Lone Musketeer "To be a poet in a destitute time means: to attend, singing, to the trace of the fugitive gods. This is why the poet in the time of the world’s night utters the holy … Poetry is a place...

‘How to Build a Monster’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
April 9, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Satire
34 Comments
. How to Build a Monster Don’t bother digging corpses up to suture body parts; Don’t seek out full-moon werewolves or unstake vampiric hearts--- For monsters can be crafted much more easily of late: First,...
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  1. C.B. Anderson on ‘The New Headmasters’: A Poem on British Boarding Schools, by Lucius FalklandMay 9, 2025

    And compare this idea to the old English folk song "The Bitter Withy". Also, there's a hint of "Spare the…

  2. C.B. Anderson on ‘The New Headmasters’: A Poem on British Boarding Schools, by Lucius FalklandMay 9, 2025

    Here we have an echo or a trace of Lucius Cary Viscount Falkland, which might or might not have anything…

  3. Martin Rizley on ‘Ghost Town’ and Other Poetry by Martin RizleyMay 9, 2025

    The poems are autobiographical and closely related to each other. They stem from a time in my life nearly three…

  4. C.B on ‘Riverside Breeze’: A Poem by Daniel HowardMay 9, 2025

    This poem is no-kidding enchanting, with a deep and gratifying subtext.

  5. Martin Rizley on ‘Ghost Town’ and Other Poetry by Martin RizleyMay 9, 2025

    Thank you, Roy, for your appreciative comments. I'm glad that you felt the description of the ghost town captured the…

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